Misconceptions
by livesonwisteria
Summary: Few people knew of the relationship between Bellatrix Lestrange and Severus Snape. Even fewer knew of what occured because of that relationship, a girl who wasnt aware of her true identity or appearance. A girl who lived with muggles called the Grangers..
1. Prologue

Azkaban was filled with pain, tonight more so than usual. Screams of intense pain mixed with those of anger echoed through the prison walls, deafening the other prisoners.

The woman screaming was evil to the core; she had done many things in her life that made her deserve to be in this hellhole some called a prison. She had never thought she would end up in here, the dark lord had let her down. He was so powerful, she never thought he would fall. She enjoyed that time so much, she loved the feel of the power and the adrenaline racing through her veins.

Now, though, she had ended up stuck in Azkaban for the rest of her life and one of the most hated people in the wizarding world, when all she was doing was serving her lord and making the world a better place. Mudbloods and muggles had never been superior; she couldn't stand the blood traitors who spread that myth around. Purebloods were always better, and had always deserved to be in control. She had just done what was right.

To add to her problems and messed up life, her husband hated her, and their marriage had never gone past mutual respect, indeed, it had never even been consummated. This was the reason she knew for sure the father of her child. Being in the inner circle had involved a lot of alcohol, and that was the cause of her many affairs with a certain Severus Snape. Severus Snape, the father of her child.

She left out another ear splitting scream of agony, who knew childbirth could be this painful? This child should never have happened, she had not been behaving in a very pureblood manor. If only they had used the contraceptive spell every time. Shame would be brought upon the family, however, she had no idea what would happen to the child. Azkaban wasn't a good place for children, however illicit they were.

Letting out one last breath, she realized that the labour was finally over. Taking the child into her arms, she savoured the precious moment as it was likely the only memory she would have of her child. Looking her child in the eyes, she was met with deep black orbs of eyes staring back at her, a head of nearly white blonde hair, which was a stark contrast to her eyes and skin which was a pale, pale colour so much so it made her look slightly ill. The eyes were a copy of Severus's, and she had the same pale skin and blonde hair, the facial features were a mixture of both of them. Anyone who knew her or Severus would instantly see them in the baby.

Looking up, she saw one of the few human guards in the place enter her cell and snatch her baby roughly from her arms. As the cell door slammed shut and she heard the key turn in the door, a sense of grief and anger overwhelmed her, and she couldn't choke back the stream of sobs that followed.

-&-

The wizard let out a slight shiver, this baby couldn't be natural. It lived in Bellatrix Lestrange for nine months, one of the most insane witches to ever live.

Nevertheless, the child would likely be a very powerful witch and they couldn't have another generation of death eaters. She would never know who her parents were, it would probably be a good thing really, he wouldn't want to put that name on anyone, and no matter who their parents were, babies are still innocent.

Pushing his thoughts aside, he mumbled an incantation, and the magic started to work. Her deep black eyes turned to a hazel colour, the blonde hair darkening drastically and gaining volume and her skin turned to a golden colour.

-&-

Two days later, a muggle family called the Grangers received the little girl they had been trying to conceive for so long. No one would ever expect the offspring of Bellatrix Lestrange to be living with muggles.

It was a perfectly ordinary neighbourhood, where nothing ever happened. Yes, no one will ever suspect anything…


	2. Adoption

Hermione Granger lived a perfectly ordinary life until she turned eleven. Her parents loved her, she went to school and got good marks and she was perfectly happy. Her dream was to become a doctor and study at Oxford university, and she was definitely clever enough.

Her world shattered into a million pieces one day in the summer holidays before she was due to start Year 6, the last year of primary school or for some the second year of middle school. A secret had been kept in the Granger family, a one Hermione had never even suspected, and today was the day she was going to find out.

"Hermione, can you come downstairs for a minute please," said Dan Granger, exchanging a nervous look with his wife.

"Are you sure this is the right time to tell her?" asked Emma.

"I think so," nodded Dan.

"I hope she takes it alright," said Emma, looking very worried.

At that moment, Hermione Granger came racing down the spiral staircase, her brown bushy hair flying behind her.

"What do you want?" she asked, smiling.

"Hermione, hunny, sit down. This is serious," said Emma.

With a grave face, Hermione did as she was told, pulling out a chair and taking a seat at the dining table.

"Am I in trouble?" said Hermione. Saying this though, she realized it was very unlikely as she was almost never in trouble, and hadn't done anything.

"No, no. Of course not, dear," said Emma in what she hoped was a comforting tone, and then glancing at Dan.

"Hermione, we have something to tell you," Dan finally said, after a glare from Emma.

"What is it?" asked Hermione, her chocolate brown eyes staring up at them as her curiosity got the better of her.

"Well…we haven't exactly been completely honest with you-"

Becoming impatient with Dan, Emma finally just said it – "Hermione, we're not your real parents. We adopted you when you were just a little baby. Don't think this means we love you any less than we always have though,"

Hermione's face turned from curious to shock in a matter of nanoseconds.

"W-what?" she muttered, her lip shaking and trying to hold in tears, this was something she had never expected.

Taking one last look at her parents, she ran back upstairs.

"Oh dear," said Emma…

_A/N: Anything you want or ideas you have, just tell me! I know its short!_


	3. Journey

A/N: Fic Recommendation for this chapter – The Pureblood Conspiracy by Nom9de9Plume. The story is very original and enjoyable, one of my faves! Again, please vote in the poll on my profile page!

It was now the first of September, and the Granger family were at Kings Cross, Hermione was about to cross the barrier as it was invisible to muggles and didn't work for them. When she had found out she was a witch, she had taken it surprisingly well. The news had came rather suddenly after the huge shock she had received when finding out she was adopted, and she had pretty much accepted it.

She couldn't help but think that maybe her parents were wizards or witches – if she was adopted and magical, it was a pretty likely option. Maybe she would find out once she reached Hogwarts. She couldn't wait!

Her relationship with her mother and father, or not as she had found it, had been incredibly strained since they dropped the bombshell of her being adopted. So it was a simple 'Goodbye,' that was the last word she uttered to her parents before walking through the barrier and onto the platform.

Stepping through the barrier that was unknown to muggles, she winced in anticipation of the oncoming wall, and smiled when she went straight through, rather painlessly – even if she had already known this. What met her on the other side was simply other-worldly. Although the scarlet steaming train with 'Hogwarts Express' written on gold letters across it could have passed for something muggle, the rest wouldn't have. Even the people looked different, over half of them wore the wizarding robes she would have to wear for Hogwarts that she had saw worn in Diagon Alley. They all seemed to be clustered in little groups, as if there was some sort of social divide.

Nearly everything she possessed was in the trunk she was pushing along on the trolley, it was a good job that the wizard selling her it had thought to put him a bottomless charm, however, this didn't really help with the weight and it was a constant struggle to push the trolley. How she was going to get her trunk on the train, she really didn't know. Maybe she would just have to ask someone, surely a fellow wizard should help?

Glancing around the platform, she spotted a noble looking blonde haired, pale skinned man standing only a few paces away from her. His wife, was a stark contrast with deep brown hair and tanned skin, accompanied him but she did however share her husbands noble aristocratic nature. Walking up to them, she asked if they could help her with her trunk, explaining that she had to go onto the platform alone although she didn't choose to divulge information about her adoption. After all, she had just met them.

"You mean… you're a mudblood?" asked the woman, looking down at Hermione, her nose high in the air.

"Urm…" stammered Hermione. She didn't know what a mudblood was, but she was pretty sure it was an insult. She had only been in the wizarding world for two minutes, and already people hated her. It didn't seem like a good omen.

"Excuse me, dear," said a woman standing behind her.

"I'm Amelia Bones, head of magical law enforcement over at the ministry of magic and this is my niece, Susan Bones. Not all families are like the Malfoy's as I'm sure you'll find," she explained.

"Hi," said Susan with a sweet smile.

"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger," she replied.

After Susan had waved goodbye to her aunt, they dragged Hermione's trunk onto the train together, going back for Susan's.

The first compartment that they found was empty, and so they sat down there, thankful they wouldn't have to walk all over the train, hunting for one.

Just before the train was about to depart, two girls stumbled into the compartment clutching pets and dragging trunks. They introduced themselves as Mandy Brocklehurst and Hannah Abbott. One of the girls, Mandy, who was muggleborn had bright red eyes and Hannah explained she had been crying after saying goodbye to her parents – she had never been away by herself before and now, she had a whole year in a new world. It was certainly a change for her.

They spent a pleasant few hours talking, and introducing each other to their respective worlds. Hannah was the most knowledgeable, living in the only wizarding family in her muggle estate and house. They obviously had to learn a lot about to muggle in order to not stand out, and as a result she was exposed to all sorts of muggle culture. The dinner cart arrived just as the clock ticked along to half past 12, just in time as everyone was getting hungry. Hermione confessed that she had been too anxious, or more appropriately excited to eat any breakfast and Hannah laughed and agreed, she had been the same.

"Anything off the trolley dears?" asked the old lady.

Hermione glanced over at the trolley, there were many things there she had never even heard of, and Mandy agreed. Chocolate frogs seemed all right, but what about acid pops? And Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, were there really _every_ flavour there? There were after all, some tastes no one wanted to experience.

"Oh don't worry," said Susan, who had fortunately had the sense to explain anything that they looked confused about. "Not all wizarding food is like that, they're only serving snacks and things right now because when we get to Hogwarts there'll be a massive feast, my auntie has told me all about it.

"Oh, that's good," said Mandy with a smile. "I don't know if I could stand having totally new food, I do love muggle food. I suppose I better try some wizarding food though, I've still got some money left over with me from my trip to Diagon Alley."

The old lady was still waiting, so Mandy turned to her and ask for 'a bit of everything', while Hermione asked for two pumpkin pasties and a single chocolate frog.

A heap of candy was dropped into Mandy's arms and she handed over ten sickles, while Hermione only had to pay a sickle. Hannah and Susan just got what they normally got – iced pumpkin juice for both of them, chocolate frogs for both of them, Bertie's beans for Susan and a pumpkin pasty for Hannah.

They all settled down to enjoy the food; new cuisine for some of them and old fare for some.

Hermione ended up explaining all about dentists after she mentioned that she hoped that her parents wouldn't mind about the chocolate; they normally restricted the amount of sugar she ate. This lead the other to explain about their parents occupations in turn.

Mandy's mother was a stay at home mother, something not uncommon in the wizarding world, more so in the muggle world, whereas her father was the head of a department of a scientific research company. Rather muggle really.

Hannah's mother, like Mandy's was a stay at home mother, only the difference was that she was a witch not a muggle. Her father worked at the ministry of magic, like a lot of wizards, in the department for magical accidents and catastrophes.

Susan lived with her aunt, although she hadn't chosen to explain why. No one chose to comment on this or push her further. As Amelia Bones had informed Hermione, she worked at and was head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement.

"That sounds important," commented Hermione.

"It is," nodded Susan solemnly.

They sat in a comfortable silence for the next hour, doing their own thing before the conversation started up again just before they heard an announcement – "We will shortly be coming into Hogsmeade, please change into your robes. All luggage is to be left on the train and returned to you at school,"

The four girls scrabbled to get their robes out of their trunks and on. Susan pointed out they could just put on their robes over the clothes they were wearing now (Hermione was wearing jeans and a red v-neck jumper), they all found this to be very good logic and immediately did it. Not only did it save time, it also stopped the possible embarrassment of getting changed together in the compartment when they had only just met and barely knew each other.

Then, a few minutes later the train stopped at Hogsmeade station. Susan knew exactly what to expect, having been told many stories about Hogwarts by her Aunt but decided not to spoil incase the other girls didn't know. Leaving their luggage behind, they walked down to the station where they were met with a giant looking man who proclaimed – "First years, first years over here." The girls followed him down to a lake with several boats tied up to it.

Susan, Mandy, Hermione and Hannah headed into a boat where there was already one other girl, who looked down her nose at them and said she was a Parkinson – Pansy Parkinson to be precise. When they had all sat down and got their balance back, Hagrid announced that there was only four to a boat. The logical choice to leave would of course have been Pansy but she declared that she didn't take orders from mudbloods or blood traitors. Trying to be diplomatic, Hermione hopped into another boat much to Susan's protest.

Looking at the inhabitants, she saw a clumsy looking boy who had been running through the train earlier looking for his toad, a red headed boy with freckles and a boy she recognised from a book as Harry Potter. The ride passed in silence, and this gave her a chance to realise that she hadn't thought about her parents and her rage towards them once since she crossed the barrier, and this was definitely good as she hadn't stopped thinking about it all summer since they had told her. Hogwarts would probably prove successful in keeping her mind from things.

The boats seemed to sail by themselves. It must be magic. What was even more magic though, was when the boats turned the corner and she caught her first glimpse of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry…


	4. Sorting

_The boats seemed to sail by themselves. It must be magic. What was even more magic though, was when the boats turned the corner and she caught her first glimpse of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry…_

_  
_It was wonderful, it was amazing. It looked like the sort of picture that would appear in one of the fantasy books Hermione had read before she discovered that it was all real. There wouldn't even really be any point in reading those sorts of books now, they probably wouldn't live up to the real thing.

It seemed as if the journey was over before it started, and they had stopped at the other side of the lake. Carefully, she climbed out of the boat hoping the clumsiness of her early years that she had gotten over wouldn't make a surprise reappearance – she didn't fancy a trip into the cold, dirty lake. Falling into line with the rest of the first years, the walked the short distance from the lake to the castle, walking through a set of massive marble double doors into a hall that had to be double the size of her house, at least.

There were four house tables with individual banners above each, they had their own mascot and colours. Hermione remembered reading about them in one of the many books her parents had bought her to try and get her out of the sulk she had been in all summer. Ravenclaw was a raven, gold and blue. Gryffindor was a lion, scarlet and gold. Hufflepuff was a badger, yellow and black. The final house Slytherin was a snake with a shady reputation, green and silver were its colours.

Glancing up at the ceiling she was reminded of something she had read in Hogwarts: A History and turned to Harry Potter who had been in her boat and was currently stood next to her, explaining – "Its enchanted to look like the night sky you know. Its just like having a see through ceiling really, except of course it will be a lot more sturdy." Harry nodded, not really looking that interested. They lined up, and Hermione felt the butterflies in her stomach start. A lot rested on what house she got into…

-&-

Flitwick's POV.  
Flitwick looked down from the staff table where he had sat for over seventy years. Every year he watched the sorting but never did it lose its appeal. It made children's lives really, anyone's Hogwarts experiences would have been drastically changed if they were in a different house to the one the sorting hat decided. This was something that sometimes, he thought should have happened. Maybe they didn't suit their house, especially as they got older, children do change after all. Maybe a different house would have done them some good, let them break away from what was expected of them. How different might the professor, the man who was sitting next to him be if he had been sorted into not Slytherin, but Ravenclaw or Gryffindor instead? Severus would have probably turned out very different.

Today's assortment of first years was very interesting. Everyone from the muggleborn who had just found out about magic to the snooty pureblood who had been brought up with magic.

Draco Malfoy was the spitting image of his father, Lucius Malfoy the convicted death eater who was responsible for hundreds of deaths both directly and indirectly, from his attitude and demeanor Flitwick realized that Draco must have been raised to be a carbon copy of his father. Hopefully though, with the help of Severus as usual, they could stop Slytherins from following in their death eater parents foot steps. Maybe it wasn't too late for some. Ravenclaw, his house, might even change Draco, with a whole different set of expectations.

U_nfortunately, it was not to be. At least Flitwick wouldn't have to deal with Lucius Malfoy now. Slytherin was where Draco Malfoy ended up, _

Draco was flanked by two large, thuggish looking boys. Crabbe and Goyle if he remembered correctly from the pictures that Dumbledore had always shown all of the teachers before the new intake came along. Flitwick wasn't normally one to judge, but they didn't really look Ravenclaw material. Maybe Hufflepuff, the way they were protecting Draco.

_Slytherin. Although most thought it a place for evil death eaters, and pureblooded old families tended to think it the only acceptable house, Salazar Slytherin had greatly different intentions._

A bright red head of hair caught his attention, it must be another Weasley. Ron Weasley was the last boy, and he had a lot to live up to; every Weasley before him had been in Gryffindor, and every Weasley before him had been special. Would he manage to live up to the expectations?

_Gryffindor. Indeed he had, but, now what would the next seven years entail for this Weasley?_

Two identical twins stood next to each other, everything the same right down to the braid their hair was in, even if one was a little more ruffled than the other. The Patil twins had undecided alliances, their parents neutral, with one being a Slytherin and the other a Hufflepuff. It was a miracle they had gotten together, with house rivalry being as bad as it was back then.

_Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. This was very interesting, he hadn't known of twins being sorted into different houses before. The only other twins at Hogwarts now were of course the Weasley twins who had both been sorted into Gryffindor. What would their parents think? _

_  
_Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. Son of James and Lily. Many different names, but underneath it all he was just a boy.

_Gryffindor. Although it took a while, the hat did make a decision. Looks like the young Potter was following in his footsteps. _

_  
_Finally, a bushy haired girl stood there. Hermione Granger was her name. Strangely enough, Dumbledore had mentioned her as not muggleborn, but living with muggles. It was suspicious to say the least.

_Even more suspicious was when she was sorted into Slytherin, the first 'muggleborn' there for over 200 years._


	5. First Night I

AN: Yeah, so I might have put an obvious Twilight reference in, but I don't know any other names of noble houses – if anyone could help with that and names of Slytherins that would be great as I'm really not good at making up names, and tend to just steal them from books (= this was going to be one chapter, but then I realized I was over 2,500 words and I really wanted to get it out, so the next installment of the first night should come soon.  


**Finally, a bushy haired girl stood there. Hermione Granger was her name. Strangely enough, Dumbledore had mentioned her as not muggleborn, but living with muggles. It was suspicious to say the least. Even more suspicious was when she was sorted into Slytherin, the first 'muggleborn' there for over 200 years.**

**  
**Whispers started amongst the Slytherins both new and seasoned who sat at their house table; traditionally this was the house for old and respectable families, and no one had heard of Granger. Unless she was a half blood, which would mean that she would not be too high on the social order in their house, a muggleborn would be even worse. It was totally unheard of, no one had ever heard of a muggleborn being in Slytherin for a long, long time. The last time was over 200 years ago, a dangerous time. That wizard never graduated. Millicent Bulstrode and Vincent Crabbe had been sitting with Draco on the express in his compartment, they didn't hesitate in telling them about her uncertain blood status. Needless to say, the Slytherins were all together too impressed with their newest addition.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the hall, two of Hufflepuffs new additions were Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones as themselves and their parents had expected. Those two girls were also shocked, however they proved they were Hufflepuffs; unlike the Slytherins they had decided to stick by their new friend, regardless of inter house relations. It would of course be a pretty awful seven years if she was ignored by everyone in her house.

Completing the foursome that had made up their group on the train was Mandy Brocklehurst; the new Ravenclaw who had quickly gotten over her homesickness. Unlike the others, she had no idea why the Slytherin table had broken out in shocked whispers when it was announced that her new friend was going to the house of snakes.

Hermione herself was rather nervous indeed, the books that she had read before her arrival at Hogwarts hadn't helped that much. Nearly all of them described Slytherin as a house for evil purebloods, or the house for dark arts and death eaters. It was only in one of them, Hogwarts: a history that she had been able to find slightly less biased account of the houses. This book described Slytherin as a house for people with ambition, and were cunning. Weighing up the evidence, she had to decide that the popular books and authors really didn't like Slytherin, or that they were right and it was a house for evil people. She didn't know which would be worse. If she seriously thought about it though, she was a Slytherin. Ambition was one of Slytherin's traits and she certainly had plenty of that, always aspiring to go just that bit higher.

So, she pulled the hat from her head and placed it upon the stool before walking over to Slytherin table with all the dignity she could muster, barely even noticing 'Greengrass, Daphne,' take the hat after her. Searching for a space, she tried to discern who would be best to sit next to, even though she barely knew any of these people.

In the time that it had taken her to linger over to the Slytherin table, the girl behind her called Daphne Greengrass had been sorted and was now following behind her, practically standing on the back of her feet. Eyes darting about, she pulled up the nearest seat, forgetting about where the best place to sit would be. It turned out that was one of the few seats left, and Daphne chose to take the empty seat next to her. Maybe it wouldn't be all bad then, she might be able to make a few friends in her house.

The sorting continued while the rest of the hall sat in silence, each person wondering whether the first year on the stool would be their houses newest addition. Although Hermione had been perfectly fine throughout the rest of the day; when she was on the train and being sorted, the nerves had chosen now to kick in, and found herself grateful for the silence. Slytherin gained five more people after her and Daphne had sat down. Gregory Goyle was a rather large boy, who had quite a stupid look about him. Blaise Zabini reminded her of someone who had unfortunately been sorted into this house also; Draco Malfoy was the boy who has snubbed her on the platform, needless to say she wasn't looking forward to sharing classes and a house with him. Pansy Parkinson was another who she had had another unpleasant experience with. However, whilst they all chose to sit at the other end of the table from her, Daphne and a girl who had quietly introduced herself as Tracy Davis, Theodore Nott took a seat with the trio.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that there were some serious politics going on in Slytherin, she would have to start learning about them straight away. Any false move might trigger a whole host of consequences. Hopefully though she had some allies, she would have to start talking to Theodore, Tracy and Daphne, that would sort out Slytherin as she already had Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Hm, maybe she was more suited for Slytherin that she thought.

As soon as Blaise had sat down, the man in the middle of the teachers table who was clad in purple, starry robe with a long white beard cleared his throat. Instantly, the hall was silent. After taking a second glance at him, she realized it was the acclaimed Professor Dumbledore, no wonder everyone had so much respect for him.

His speech was strange to say the least, and it left her distinctly unimpressed. Instead of acclaimed headmaster and wizard, he seemed like an eccentric old professor. Hermione raised her eyebrows, her face clearly displaying a skeptic expression, glancing over to an older Slytherin she said – "Is he really mad?"

"Unfortunately," replied the Slytherin "Most say he's the worst thing to happen to the school, but that's just mainly Slytherins, and I suppose we have a reason."

Hermione nodded, and the Slytherin continued and then introduced himself. "Well, most of the school hates Slytherins; Dumbledore isn't an exception, just he doesn't show it as much. Gryffindors would be able to get away with something that a Slyherin would be expelled for. I'm Adrian Pucey by the way, third year and I'm a chaser for our Qudditch team,"

"Hermione Granger," smiled Hermione. "So, why does everyone hate Slytherin so much?"

"I'm sure its been going for a while now," Theodore spoke up. "When my father was at school, everything was the same."

"Oh, are you Theodore Nott?" asked Adrian. "I'm sure I've seen you at some of the parties and balls my parents have held, you too."

"Yes, I think I must have seen you before," agreed Daphne. "It seems like everyone in Slytherin meets each other before the sorting at their parents events."

"Oh, I didn't realize that, is it a tradition or something?" asked Hermione, curiosity evidence in her eyes, Tracy looking the same.

"What do you mean?" asked Adrian, suddenly looking rather uncomfortable, as the boy next to him also tensed up. Yes, clearly one wrong move in Slytherin could be deadly.

"Don't worry, they wouldn't let a mudblood into Slytherin," sneered another boy, one who looked like an older version of Crabbe or Goyle who were also in Slytherin.

The boy who was sitting next to Adrian turned out to be called Terence Higgs, he simply told him to leave it.

"They're Slytherins now, they must have done something right. You didn't even bother to ask them either," pointed out Terence, who seemed to be taking a much more diplomatic approach to the whole matter than any of the other Slytherins who had now started listening into the conversation with no effort to cover the fact that they were.

"Well?" demanded Aaron Rosier, the fourth year clearly wanted answers. "Are you two mudbloods or not?"

Tracy and Hermione exchanged nervous looks, before Hermione quietly kicked Tracy under the table, indicating she should answer first. After all, Hermione had no idea what a mudblood was and didn't want to look stupid.

"Urm… I'm Tracy Davis, a half blood. My mother was a pureblood from the ancient house of Cullen and my father was a muggleborn. We are allied with the house of Greengrass, including Daphne," said Tracy.

"Hmmm," said Aaron, looking thoughtful. "The house of Cullen is one of the most ancient and noble houses, apart from it starting to die out. Your mothers house even used to sway toward the dark arts, particularly blood rituals, which are pretty dark. I suppose you'll do, but it's a pity about the father. You?"

Hermione felt his attention turn to her, and had quickly deduced that a mudblood was a muggleborn; someone with muggle parents, like she had thought. There was no need to lie; sometimes the truth was the best option.

"I don't know," she admitted.

Laughter broke out along the table. "How can you not know if you're a mudblood or not?" asked Aaron, his voice full of scorn. "You know, when there's no magic for the first eleven years of your life, its kind of a giveaway."

Everyone continued laughing, and Hermione couldn't help but wonder if he was some sort of unofficial leader of Slytherin. It was time to explain.

"It's quite simple really," she said, matching Rosier's scorn. "I don't know who my parents are since I was adopted, so I don't know whether my parents where magical or not."

That silenced the table, it certainly was a revelation.

"Well, isn't that interesting," muttered Theodore.

"I agree," replied Terence with a shadow of a smile on his face. "You know though, there are ways of telling your family tree. Just requires a bit of blood."

Daphne looked shocked. "Blood rituals? You cant be serious, that's dark arts and _highly_ illegal,"

"Well, Slytherin is the house for dark arts," said Hermione, repeating a sentence from a book with a laugh.

"True," admitted Tracy with a grin.

"Looks like we'll make Slytherins of you yet," grinned Terence, to which Adrian and Aaron laughed heartily at.

"Shall we eat?" asked Adrian. Unbeknownst to the seven of them who had been rather engrossed in their conversation, the food had been on the table for a minute or two now.

"Sure," replied Hermione with a grin, rather thrilled that everything had turned out so well. They didn't hate her, and, she might be able to know who her real parents were. Things were looking up.

Now, delicacies of all sorts filled the table, and she realized just how hungry she was. Everything from fish and chips to sushi to lemon torte to ten different flavors of ice cream to Caesar salad was there, along with a few unfamiliar things. Grabbing a plate, she decided it probably would be best to heed the Grangers warnings about sugar; by following it she had managed to stay reasonably healthy so far. The meal continued one with intervals of pleasant small talk for at least what Hermione took to be another hour.

Then, it seemed like perfect timing, although most people had been totally full for a while now, the plates and glasses disappeared just as the final person had taken their last swig of pumpkin juice.

Headmaster Dumbledore stood up once more, presumably to make another speech – "Ahem – Just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older pupils would do well to remember that as well," At this point, Headmaster Dumbledore's twinkling eyes glanced over to two red headed twins sitting at the opposite end of the room at the Gryffindor table.

"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used in between classes in the corridors," Many Slytherins laughed at this statement, one muttering 'not bloody likely,' another muttering 'wonder how long that will last?'

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term, anyone interested in paying for their house team should contact Madam Hooch," Terence and Adrian definitely perked up at this point, after all Adrian had introduced himself as a chaser.

And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song"

Hermione was about to point out that there was no way she knew the words, but then Dumbledore raised his wand and a long golden ribbon flew out of it which rose high and the arranged it self into the words. It seemed she was one of the few actually bothering to sing, most of Slytherin seemed to just be miming.

Everybody finished the song at different times, and once the last line was sung, it was off to bed.

An elegant looking girl with shoulder length ice blonde hair stood, "First years follow me please. I'm your prefect, Amelia Swan,"

They all arose and began to follow Amelia through the maze of corridors and passages that led to Slytherin house, they encountered many interesting things along the way that people were rather curious about. Amelia however wasn't so bothered, and took up a quick pace, telling people there was no time for dawdling.

"I don't know how I'm ever going to find my way around here," admitted Hermione to Tracey, who nodded and agreed.

After what seemed like a never ending trip of twists and turns that they would surely never remember in the morning, they had arrived at the entrance to Slytherins common room, the door was covered with an incredibly large portrait of a man that Hermione recognized from Hogwarts: a history. Salazar Slytherin.

"Password?" he asked.

"Parseltongue," replied Amelia, and the portrait swung open, granting them entrance to the common room…


End file.
